But the great effects of the Norman Conquest, as regards Scotland, are not connected with strictly international affairs.  They are partially racial, and, in other respects, may be described as personal.  It is unquestionable that there was an immigration of the Northumbrian population into Scotland; but the Northumbrian population were Anglo-Danish, and the north of England was not thickly populated.  When William the Conqueror ravaged the northern counties with fire and sword, a considerable proportion of the population must have perished.  The actual infusion of English blood may thus be exaggerated; but the introduction of English influences cannot be questioned.  These influences were mainly due to the personality of Malcolm’s second wife, the Saxon princess, Margaret.  The queen was a woman of considerable mental power, and possessed a great influence over her strong-headed and hot-tempered husband.  She was a devout churchwoman, and she immediately directed her energies to the task of bringing the Scottish church into closer communion with the Roman.  The changes were slight in themselves; all that we know of them is an alteration in the beginning of Lent, the proper observance of Easter and of Sunday, and a question, still disputed, about the tonsure.  But, slight as they were, they stood for much.  They involved the abandonment of the separate position held by the Scottish Church, and its acceptance of a place as an integral portion of Roman Christianity.  The result was to make the Papacy, for the first time, an important factor in Scottish affairs, and to bridge the gulf that divided Scotland from Continental Europe.  We soon find Scottish churchmen seeking learning in France, and bringing into Scotland those French influences which were destined seriously to affect the civilization of the country.  But, above all, these Roman changes were important just because they were Anglican—­introduced by an English queen, carried out by English clerics, emanating from a court which was rapidly becoming English.  Malcolm’s subjects thenceforth began to adopt English customs and the English tongue, which spread from the court of Queen Margaret.  The colony of English refugees represented a higher civilization and a more advanced state of commerce than the Scottish Celts, and the English language, from this cause also, made rapid progress.  For about twenty-five years Margaret exercised the most potent influence in her husband’s kingdom, and, when she died, her reputation as a saint and her subsequent canonization maintained and supported the traditions she had created.  Not only did she have on her side the power of a court and the prestige of courtly etiquette, but, as we have said, she represented a higher civilizing force than that which was opposed to her, and hence the greatness of her victory.  It must, however, be remembered that the spread of the English language in Scotland does not necessarily imply the predominance of English blood.  It means